Film Screening: Stori Tumbuna: Ancestors’ Tales

Wolffram, a New Zealand ethnomusicologist and film maker, will be introducing the film and responding to questions following the screening. His campus visit is sponsored by IDAH and the Media Preservation initiative, under the Office of the Vice Provost for Research.

“This is a story of the Lak people. It‘s also a story of how I came to know the people of the region and how my story became forever woven into their own… I was to become enmeshed in events that resulted in bloodshed and death. What’s more, I was held responsible.”

Stori Tumbuna: Ancestors’ Tales is a feature length ethnographic documentary based in the remote region of Southern New Ireland, Papua New Guinea. The film focuses on the lives, culture, and mythologies of people of the Lak region, and is a collaboration between the Lak and ethnomusicologist Paul Wolffram, who shot the film while living among them for over two years.

Conceived as an opportunity for the Lak to tell their stories in their way, the film takes its structure from the traditional mythologies of the region. Unlike films based on the lives of traditional communities and told from the point of view of an outsider, Stori Tumbuna: Ancestors’ Tales adopts indigenous narrative structures, and presents a collaborative account that privileges local points of view and the Lak ethos.

“I know of no more successful or ingenious film that draws the viewer into another life-world while keeping faith with the tenor of its traditional narratives and respecting the lived experience of his/her interlocutors.“ Michael Jackson, Harvard University

Paul Wolffram has a PhD in ethnomusicology from the New Zealand School of Music. He is a photographer and film maker currently working at Victoria University of Wellington Film Program, New Zealand.

Wolffram’s collection of annotated ethnographic field videos of the Lak people may also be viewed in the publications of theEVIA Digital Archive Project.

Upcoming Events

Advanced Visualization Lab Open HouseApril 30, 11 AM – 2 PMIU Technology Complex(located on the east side of campus at 10th and the bypass).

Come anytime between 11 AM and 2 PM to see the IQ-Wall, Science on a Sphere, Visualization & Collaboration Theater, and IQ-Tilt. AVL staff will be on-hand to highlight each of these state-of-the-art visualization systems, and to answer questions relating to how you might use them.

The 24-tile IQ-Wall(Cyberinfrastructure Building - CIB)The IQ-Wall will be showcasing a variety of images and applications appropriate for its ultra-high resolution canvas.

The recently installed Science on a Sphere (SOS)(Cyberinfrastructure Building - CIB)The SOS features an array of earth-centric data on its 68" diameter globe.

The Visualization & Collaboration Theater (VCT)(Innovation Center - IC) The VCT, we will highlight some scientific visualization efforts currently being conducted by AVL staff and their collaborators.

The very first IQ-Tilt to be deployed on the IUB campus.(Innovation Center - IC)The IQ-Tilt is a large multi-touch enabled display that allows users to explore multimedia galleries on their own and with other users.

If you are interested in attending, please check-in with the receptionist on the first floor of the CIB (2709 E. Tenth St., Bloomington). After exploring the CIB systems, AVL staff will direct you to the adjacent IC building to continue your tour. For more information, visit: http://rt.uits.iu.edu/visualization/avl/news.php.

Upcoming Opportunities

Ten International Research Funders Announce Round Three of the Digging into Data Challenge

Deadline: May 15, 2013

This year ten international research funders representing Canada, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States, are jointly announcing their participation in round three of the Digging into Data Challenge, a grant competition designed to spur computationally intensive research in the humanities and social sciences.

The Digging into Data Challenge aims to address how "big data" changes the research landscape for the humanities and social sciences. As the world becomes increasingly digital, new techniques will be needed to search, analyze, and understand these materials. Digging into Data challenges the research community to help create the new research infrastructure for 21st-century scholarship.

Applicants will form international teams from at least two of the participating countries. Winning teams will receive grants from two or more of the funding agencies and, two years later, will be invited to show off their work at a special conference sponsored by the ten funders.